title: Cervical cancer screening programs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
abstract: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have a significant burden of cervical cancer. Prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are an opportunity for primary prevention and new screening methods, such as new HPV DNA testing, are promising alternatives to cytology screening that should be analyzed in the context of regional preventive programs. Cytology-based screening programs have not fulfilled their expectations and coverage does not sufficiently explain the lack of impact on screening in LAC. While improved evaluation of screening programs is necessary to increase the impact of screening on the reduction of incidence and mortality, other programmatic aspects will need to be addressed such as follow-up of positive tests and quality control. The implementation of new technologies might enhance screening performance and reduce mortality in the region. The characteristics, performance and impact of cervical cancer screening programs in LAC are reviewed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Division of Research and Public Health, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. rmurillo@cancer.gov.co
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Murillo
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Almonte
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ferrer
authors.forename: Oscar A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Gamboa
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jerónimo
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lazcano-Ponce
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D011634:Public Health; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data